Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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80 August/September 2018 unmanned systems
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Management for manned aviation.
The aim is to integrate into an ATM
context complex drone operations in
all types of environments, including
urban zones, with a high degree of
automation.
According to current SESAR infor-
mation, the system should be up and
running by 2019, delivering basic ser-
vices such as registration, e-identifica-
tion and geo-fencing. Further U-space
services and corresponding standards
are to be developed subsequently.
"The U-space is something that is
mentioned consistently during our
various consultation meetings," de Vos
said, "so people are aware that U-space
could provide very useful tools and
could facilitate the lives of drone op-
erators and of authorities.
"The question is to which extent al-
ready do the Commission regulations
on the table provide the basic stepping
stones of registration, e-identification,
geo-awareness, and to what extent can
we, or do we, need to develop further
steps. In order to answer these ques-
tions, we have established a ref lection
group with some member states and
industry people, and we will in the
coming days send out a final report
with recommendations.
"To regulate on a full U-space, we
w ill need to take another regula-
tory initiative," de Vos suggested, or
warned, "and then the question is how
fast can we develop this new regula-
tory initiative. This is still under con-
sideration within the Commission and
with stakeholders. How fast can we
go? Do we have to learn from exper-
tise, from demonstrators, or is there
already a sufficient evidence base to
come up with a first draft of a U-space
regulation?"
GOOD WORKING ORDER
Sitting in the audience at the Cologne
workshop, Manfred Mohr of the
International Air Transport Association
(IATA) had been listening to the pro-
ceedings with interest. The theme of
striking the right balance seemed to be
a recurring one throughout the work-
shop. Too many standard scenarios or
too few? Too many regulations to push
through at once or not enough?"
"Too simple or too complex?" he in-
terjected. "I say just do it right. We at
IATA, from the ATM side, our mem-
bers, we have our experience already
with ADS-B, ADS-C, data link. This is
chaos. Nobody knows when it will come
into place. We are working heavily on the
extension of all of these deadlines and
multi-frequencies. So please, do it right,
do it safe, do it secure, but do it fair."
Essentially, Mohr seemed to be call-
ing for order and good sense, and his
voice seemed to resonate among the
other participants, possibly an indica-
tion of some general feeling of frustra-
tion among the drone and drone-im-
pacted communities.
"The controllers," he said, "don't want
to see drones on their radar screens.
The problem is we have no tracking
system at the moment. Most of these
drones are not seen, and if you see a
drone it is not coordinated. This is our
problem. The controllers—I just asked
my colleague—of course they want to
see it if it's coordinated or if it's really a
safety issue, they are not against this,
but we need a proper tracking system.
We need this e-identification system,
this is a fantastic idea of course.
"Think about when you go into place
with a new aircraft," he said. "This pro-
cess is taking sometimes between five
and six years. Please, don't let it take
that long for your new drone arrange-
ments, because most of the companies
mentioned by the lady from France,
they will already be bankrupt."
PRIVACY, PRIVACY
The recently unveiled EU General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) has
shaken up the way the continent does
business, and many other things. It has
real implications for drone operations,
all of which drone operators are expect-
ed to understand, not the least of which
concern the 'privacy' element within the
infamous operational risk assessment.
On that front, Jean Pierre Lentz,
European Commission policy officer,
delivered some good news to drone
operators. The EU-funded project
'DRONERULES.eu' is currently de-
veloping tools aimed at helping drone
operators comply with new GDPR
requirements.
"There are already some guidelines
available to help you," Lentz said, "but
we wanted to provide you with more
specific guidelines for drone opera-
tions and some other useful tools. So
this project will feed its results into the
DRONERULES.eu website that some
of you already know."
BRUSSELS VIEW by PETER GUTIERREZ
EASA IS…
The European Aviation Safety Agency
is an agency of the European Union,
located in Cologne, Germany. The
Agency is responsible for civil aviation
safety and carries out certification,
regulation, standardization,
investigation and monitoring. It collects
and analyzes safety data, drafts and
advises on safety legislation, and
coordinates with similar organizations
in other parts of the world. The agency
was legally established in 2002.